Archaeology
Beyond the Family Feud
Written by Andrew Lawler
Published in
Archaeology
It's a drizzly autumn morning in the eastern Mexican city of Xalapa, near the heartland of what many scholars say was Mesoamerica's first civilization. At the city's elegant anthropology museum, amid one of the finest Olmec collections in the world, Yale archaeologist Michael Coe points at the giant squat stone…
City of the Dead
Written by Andrew Lawler
Published in
Archaeology
The vast Egyptian necropolis of Saqqara is now emerging from the shadow of Giza and the Valley of the Kings Pilgrim, priest, or pharaoh, each made the same sacred journey. Starting at dawn from the sprawling capital of Memphis along the west bank of the Nile River, they first crossed…
Damning Sudan
Written by Andrew Lawler
Published in
Archaeology
Global apathy threatens a way of life and an unexpectedly rich heritage. The Land Rover is stuck, and the Manoosir tribesmen aren’t lending a hand. In Sudan, where African generosity meets Arab politeness, this means trouble. Even our easygoing Sudanese driver tenses. A few miles downstream from this dusty mud-brick…
First Churches of the Jesus Cult
Written by Andrew Lawler
Published in
Archaeology
As dusk approaches, Korean pilgrims in white baseball caps blow horns and sing hymns atop Tel Megiddo. This crossroads in northern Israel--also known as Armageddon--is where the New Testament says the final battle pitting good against evil will begin. Below the huge mound, tour buses idle, throngs of visitors buy…
Iran Beckons
Written by Andrew Lawler
Published in
Archaeology
A surprise invitation to foreign archaeologists to return and resume work ABSTRACT The lush garden of the last shah is one of Tehran's few cool places in the hot summer. Set on a hillside overlooking the sprawling city, the grounds of the Niyavaran Palace were the setting last August for…
Mohenjo-Daro's New Story
Written by Andrew Lawler
Published in
Archaeology
January/February 2013 When the Indus River swelled two years ago in central Pakistan, the floodwaters came within just three feet of overtopping an earthen embankment protecting the ancient city known as Mohenjo-Daro. At the time, archaeologists breathed a sigh of relief. But in September 2012 monsoon rains again threatened the…
Temple of the Storm God
Written by Andrew Lawler
Published in
Archaeology
This story was recently cited in the New York Times article "Syrian Conflict Imperils Historical Treasures" By PATRICIA COHEN http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/16/arts/design/syrian-conflict-imperils-historical-treasures.html?hpw A massive citadel built atop a 150-foot-tall hill of solid rock looms over Aleppo’s old quarter. Fortresses have risen above this northern Syrian city since Roman times. But at the…
The New Bronze Age
Written by Andrew Lawler
Published in
Archaeology
This remote valley may have been the home of a civilization at the heart of the ancient world’s first globalized economy Youssef Madjidzadeh is insistent. “There is no difference between Jiroft and Sumer,” says the white-bearded 72-year-old archaeologist, leaning forward on the sofa. We’re in the lobby of a hotel…
The Truth Behind the Tablets
Written by Andrew Lawler
Published in
Archaeology
The rush to document thousands of ancient texts before they are sent back to Iran, or sold, reveals the daily workings of the Persian empire The palace of Darius and the large audience hall in the royal city of Persepolis (above). Tens of thousands of clay tablets and fragments (right)…
The World in Between
Written by Andrew Lawler
Published in
Archaeology
5,000 years ago, a long-buried society in the Iranian desert helped shape the first urban age Even local archaeologists with the benefit of air conditioned cars and paved roads think twice about crossing eastern Iran’s rugged terrain. “It’s a tough place,” says Mehdi Mortazavi from the University of Sistan Baluchistan…
